Caracterização estrutural e cinética e ação antimicrobiana de uma albumina 2s com atividade inibitória de tripsina purificada da torta de Jatropha curcas L.

Abstract

The number of diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria has increased, amongst them those occasioned by Staphylococcus aureus. In addition to bacterial infections, there are parasitic diseases, such as toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Such scenarios support the search for new agents that are active against most pathogens. Recently a glycoprotein with trypsin inhibitory activity and action against human bacterial pathogens, named JcTI-I, was previously purified to homogeneity by our research group from Jatropha curcas cake. The goals of this present study were to proceed with the structural and kinetic characterization of JcTI-I and to assess its potential activity against human pathogenic bacteria, with emphasis on the mode of antibacterial action and activity against T. gondii. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that JcTI-I is a protein of 10,252 kDa composed of two polypeptide chains of 7,133 and 3,124 kDa, linked by disulfide bonds. Primary sequence data obtained by Edman degradation and mass spectrometry allowed to classify JcTI-I as a 2S albumin. In silico analysis permitted to identify the JcTI-I precursor-coding genes (Jcr4S00619.70) in the genome of J. curcas. The precursor (pro-albumin) contains a signal peptide of 39 amino acid residues at the N-terminus, eight conserved cysteine residues, multiple sites of glycosylation and one phosphorylation site. JcTI-I is mainly composed of α-helices (70%) stabilized by four disulfide bonds and disordered structures. In silico modelling and SAXS analysis suggest an extended structure with long tail and globular region for JcTI-I. Moreover, JcTI-I has high affinity for trypsin (Ki = 2 x 10-11 M), which is inhibited by a non-competitive mechanism, and maintained, at least partially, in the presence of dithiothreitol (0.1 M, 60 minutes). JcTI-I inhibited S. aureus and S. choleraesuis growth (MIC of 5 µg protein/mL), probably due to its physical interaction with the bacteria, which might have increased the cell surface permeability to this protein that, after internalization to intracellular environment, inactivated proteases and bound to DNA. It is possible that JcTI-I has caused bacterial DNA degradation due to its desoxirribonucleasica activity detected in vitro. Furthermore, JcTI-I was also toxic to T. gondii decreasing the numbers of infected Vero cells and intracellular tachyzoites. In addition, T. gondii treated with JcTI-I presented changes in their internal pelicular and cellular membranes and increased formation of cytoplasm vesicles. Importantly, JcTI-I did not show cytotoxicity to Vero cells, lysis of human red blood cells, and acute toxicity (lethality) to mice. The data demonstrate that JcTI-I has potential to be used as a new antimicrobial agent, adding value to J. curcas cake.